Sending gifts to Pakistan, United Arab Emirates.

[admylin]

We have family all over the world. Recently we've had 2 new arrivals - baby boys but one is in United Arab Emirates and one is in Pakistan. I have already sent a gift to the Emirates from the post office (we're in Germany) and it has still not arrived nearly 3 weeks later so I presume it's lost. Next time I will have to send it registered.

Do any of you have other tips or experience on how to send gifts to these countries - especially Pakistan is difficult as things seem to go missing often.

ALWAYS send international parcels registered. A lot of countries don't do deliveries to homes but everyone has a PO Box number which they check regularly. Or some countries just have a rubbish reputation for delivering parcels, eg UK to France. And each side just blames the other postal service for stealing the present.

Hmm, looks like I'll have to buy the baby gifts again and send them registered this time. What a waste. Thanks.

I am surprised that the gift to UAE has gone missing. We lived in the country below that (Oman) and visited Dubai and Sharjah often. Both countries seemed to have the same level of honesty and integrity that we had become used to (can't spell accustemed)

I'm also surprised. I wonder if my niece sghould ask atteh post office in her area?

Infact the gift I sent there was meant to be carried personally to Bangladesh as my niece who lives in UAE was flying over at the end of this month. Now I'll have to try a couple of registered parcels instead. They live in a good area too, should be a reliable delivery zone.

That's probably the best course of action, when we lived in Oman, our stuff went to a PO box number. Post delivery to the door didn't exist. Good luck.

may have been held up in customs

Ask your friends in the UAE to sign up a company called Aramex. It allows people in the UAE to have goods posted to a UK address (maybe also a German one) and then they ship the goods in bulk with other customers. they can order stuff for themselves this way too. The postal service for the UAE is notoriously bad.

Can't help with Pakistan.

A quick look at the Aramex site and it looks like they do Pakistan too. If your rellies in the UAE work for an International firm then you can ask for the business address and have it mailed there?

Crikey, people do send parcels to the UAE, however it isnt recommended. Part of the problem is not the honesty issue, but we dont have street names and numbers. Yes we do have a PO Box, but the whole postal system just gets confused. It might well be worth asking at the post office. There are a number around and she would need to go to each one.

Mostly we have items sent via Aramex, its a shipping company with a PO Box for us in the Uk and the US. Everyone including Amazon etc send it there and the items get forwarded twice a week. Wehn its gets here, just a few days Aramex call you and arrange delivery.

I do know people have found parcels at the PO so get her to give it a try.

Never had any problems receiving parcels/post from UK (in fact for a good 2 years all our UK mail was forwarded to us in UAE).

HOWEVER - you must send to a PO box not the home address. There is no delivery to home addresses by the UAE post office (Couriers will deliver to home addresses)

Another thumbs up for Aramex.

Parcel may still turn up. I'm in KSA and we tell people not to even bother sending us parcels or cards now. Last year DD's birthday card (tiny envelope) took 6 weeks to arrive but that did clash with ramadan. usually it takes 3 to 4 weeks for cards to arrive.

Can highly recommend Aramex. Postal service in UAE a nightmare. Did you send it to a private address? Mail doesn't normally get delivered to home addresses as other posters mentioned before. They may have the world's highest tower but they cannot command a basic mail system

Always send to work address, registered and be patient. The clocks tick slower here than elsewhere. If you put your sender on the parcel it may come back to you. Good luck!

Will definately use aramex in future, thanks alot everyone.

My niece should have realised when she gave me her home address but I guess she never actually uses the postal system so she didn't think. Anyway, she's just moved on and lives in Saudi arabia since 1st of May.

Would be nice if the parcel comes back to me - but by then the baby will have grown out of the stuff intended for him! I could keep it for the next baby which is already on it's way (in London this time so post should be OK!)

The parcel just got returned to me with 'incomplete address' written on it. Address was complete but there was no PO box number. Oh well atleast I get to resend it!

Just want to give a suggestion. If you need to send a gift to Pakistan, why don't you try one of the online gift sites which deliver in Pakistan? I'm running one such site myself, you might want to have a look. The link is www.igotitforu.com
Hope its useful!

Another option for the UAE is to order gifts online from a local site. I started asking my family and friends to do this if they ever offered to post something out. We had so many parcels that didn't arrive. Mumzworld is a good one (and the one we usually use) but there are others. Little Majlis is also good and reliable. Such a shame when gifts go missing.